[itvt], producer of the TV of Tomorrow Show (TVOT) conference series, is pleased to announce the TVOT NYC 2013 Hackathon, an event that brings together hackers and creatives to envision and build the TV of Tomorrow.

What is the TV of Tomorrow? As with our last Hackathon event, we'll leave that entirely up to your vision and creativity! However, it could encompass such phenomena, platforms, technologies and user experiences as binge viewing (your hack could, for example, provide an innovative interactive experience for consumers looking to watch the entire season of a program), the second screen (smartphones, tablets, etc.), game consoles, next-generation cable set-top boxes, smart TV's, gestural control, voice control, automatic content recognition, augmented reality, rich interactivity, big data, metadata, gamification, personalization, audience participation, social media integration, geolocation, transmedia storytelling, and more.

When: The TVOT NYC 2013 Hackathon will take place 12:00PM, December 10th-12:00PM December 11th (Tuesday-Wednesday).

The finalists will then be showcased and the winner selected December 11th in a special session at our East Coast TV of Tomorrow Show event, TVOT NYC 2013, a gathering that attracts many of the leading lights of the advanced-TV industry.

Where: The TVOT NYC 2013 Hackathon will take place at 450 W. 31st Street in Manhattan. Check-in to get your badge is on the 10th Floor.

How to Register: Registration is free, but spaces are limited. So register heresoon to reserve your place. Please note that registered TVOT NYC 2013 Hackathon participants also qualify for discount admission to TVOT NYC 2013. Email swedlow@itvt.com for more information.

The Challenge: Hackers will be challenged to envision the TV of Tomorrow by conceiving, designing and building TV/video apps and experiences, primarily--though not exclusively--using technologies, platforms, content and knowledge contributed by the Hackathon sponsors. Participants are free to implement their visions of the TV of Tomorrow however they wish. While they will receive points for every participating company's technology that they employ, they will be judged primarily on the originality, elegance and usefulness (viability, scalability, monetizability etc.) of the app or experience they create.

Who Should Participate?: The TVOT NYC 2013 Hackathon is open to "hackers" of all kinds, including coders, but also front-end and motion-graphic designers, content visionaries, business visionaries, students, storytellers, filmmakers and others.

What to Expect: The TVOT NYC 2013 Hackathon will last 29 hours, and food and drink will be provided. Representatives from the Hackathon sponsors will be on hand to share advice on using their platforms, API's and other technologies. In addition, you'll be able to participate in breakout sessions with other advanced-/interactive-/social-/multiplatform-TV experts/mentors who can provide you with guidance and inspiration. Once you have completed a prototype or real implementation of your project, you will be asked to pitch it to a panel of judges who will select the three finalist projects that will be showcased at TVOT NYC 2013. The winner, finalists and runners-up will also be featured in a special issue of the [itvt] newsletter, the first, best and most widely read publication on the interactive-TV industry.

Cameras, microphones and any other equipment you think you will need, if you are planning to create original video content on-site for your app (however, we will have video assets available, if you would prefer to use them).

Any software and apps you need in order to create your app or front-end design.

If you are already planning out your app in advance of the Hackathon, any additional assets you need in order to implement it (video, audio, images, vector art, wireframes, mockups, etc.)..

Anything else you need for a marathon of creativity and innovation!

Prizes: The winner of the TVOT NYC 2013 Hackathon will receive a $6,000 Grand Prize, presented by Comcast, NBC Universal and zeebox. Finalists and runners-up will also be awarded prizes and schwag.

I Just Want to Hang Out and Watch--Can I?: We expect that the TVOT NYC 2013 Hackathon will be a highly enjoyable and very social event, and that it will present great opportunities for schmoozing and networking. However, because space at 450 W. 31st Street is limited, non-"hackers" will only be admitted if they are TVOT NYC 2013 ticket holders or speakers. Sorry, no exceptions! If you have not yet purchased your TVOT NYC 2013 tickets, you can do so here.

Can My Company Participate as a Hackathon Host or Sponsor?: Yes, though time is running out! For more information, please contact Tracy Swedlow, editor-in-chief of the [itvt] newsletter and producer of The TV of Tomorrow Show and TVOT NYC, at swedlow@itvt.com.

TVOT in the News

"Comcast is looking to test a new platform for the distribution of online videos through its new X1 cable set-top boxes by the end of the year, the company’s SVP of Video Matt Strauss confirmed during an interview at the sidelines of the TV of Tomorrow Show this week."

"New York-based streaming video startup DramaFever will launch new verticals for documentaries and horror movies in the coming months, DramaFever co-founder Seung Bak revealed during a panel at the TV of Tomorrow Show in San Francisco on Wednesday. Bak said that the company plans to launch a dedicated platform for documentaries later this year and a horror movie channel in early 2015."

"Dish wants to make inroads with people who are fed up with traditional pay TV with its upcoming internet-based TV service, said the company’s GM of Interactive and Advanced TV Adam Lowy at the TV of Tomorrow Show in San Francisco Wednesday. “Cord cutters, cord nevers and what we call cord haters” will be the target audience of the new service, said Lowy."

"Speaking at the TV of Tomorrow Show in San Francisco Wednesday, Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) GM of interactive and advanced TV Adam Lowy defined the desired subscriber base for his company's soon-to-be launched OTT service as being young, digital and somewhat dissonant to traditional pay-TV services."

"Speaking at the TV of Tomorrow Show in San Francisco Wednesday, Matt Strauss, senior VP of video for Comcast, told GigaOM that the pay TV company is looking to test the new platform by the end of the year. As explained by Strauss, Comcast isn't looking for cute cats, bored teenagers and other works by amateur video makers, but rather professionally produced content--the kind YouTube itself has migrated to during the past two years."

"Last week, Bernstein Research’s Todd Juenger posited that satellite TV provider Dish Network could put together a pretty solid array of content for the $30/mo. Internet TV service it wants to offer. […]Wednesday, at the TV of Tomorrow Show in San Francisco, Adam Lowy, Dish’s GM of interactive and advanced TV, told an audience that the market segment the satellite provider was going after included “cord cutters, cord nevers and what we call cord haters."

"Showtime sees smart TV’s as powerful platform for immersive, interactive experiences, explains David Preisman, VP for Interactive Television at the premium cable network. In this interview with Beet.TV, he speaks about the company’s Sho Synch app and its growing popularity. The app is available on LG sets. We spoke with him at the TV of Tomorrow Conference where he was a speaker."

"The number of programmers to deliver their live streams will double to 75 this year, says Matthew Strauss, GM for Video Services at Comcast in this interview with Beet.TV. We interviewed him this week at the TV of Tomorrow conference."

"The number of programmers to deliver their live streams will double to 75 this year, says Matthew Strauss, GM for Video Services at Comcast in this interview with Beet.TV. We interviewed him this week at the TV of Tomorrow conference."

"The UK may not have a joint “TV Everywhere” initiative like that in the US – but subscription satellite TV and broadband operator BSkyB is seeing mobile viewing boom despite (or perhaps because) of that. “We are seeing … a third of our customer base using ‘TV everywhere’ every month,” says BSkyB‘s business developer VP Hilary Perchard, who is one of the execs recently posted by the satcaster to the San Francisco Bay Area to build connections with startups. […]We interviewed him this week at the TV of Tomorrow conference."

"The big growth of ”TV Everywhere,” meaning the authenticated viewing of TV programming on digital devices by cable and satellite consumers, is creating expanded video viewing and new opportunities for advertisers, says Beet commentator Ashley J. Swartz, in this wrap-up of the TV of Tomorrow conference in San Francisco."

"Yet as the television ownership landscape becomes less diverse, the shows have never been better. Why? The empowerment of the consumer, Mr. Torici argues. People are now able to watch TV shows whenever they want through whatever device they prefer, and connect with other fans in a public conversation over social media. As CEO of Group M Entertainment, a TV production and financing firm that’s a unit of global advertising giant WPP, Mr. Tortorici now watches over another sort of convergence: television and marketing."

"CNN is expanding its new ‘CNN X’ product – a hybrid offering of live TV and personalized digital content to cable and satellite subscribers with new distribution platforms. CNN X, which is available on iPad, has just launched on the Web and will soon be available on DiretTV set-top boxes, explains K.C. Estenson, GM of Digital for CNN in this interview with Beet.TV We spoke with him yesterday at the TV of Tomorrow conference."

"The TV Everywhere system for allowing online viewers to watch channels from the US’ patchwork of cable operators is booming thanks to sports popularity.
“We saw about a 250% increase in TV Everywhere streams this past quarter over the previous year,” says Adobe’s Primetime VP Jeremy Helfland. […] We spoke with him at the TV of Tomorrow conference."

"The X1 cable box from Comcast will be become increasingly “immersive” with a number of new features including more Apps, Web videos, data and social media over the next few months, explains Matthew Strauss, SVP and GM for Video Services, in this interview with Beet.TV. […]We spoke with him at the TV of Tomorrow conference yesterday in San Francisco."

"At the time there was much speculation that NowTV would cannibalize Sky’s existing customer base as people ditched monthly sports packages for occasional daily access through NowTV. Has this happened? Not according to Hilary Perchard, VP of Business Development at Sky. I interviewed him at the TV of Tomorrow show in San Francisco to understand how this radical experiment in TV Everywhere delivery was working for the company. As you will see from the interview, far from cannibalizing existing subscribers, NowTV is allowing Sky to reach an audience that had proved resistant to the allure...

"Mobile devices, led by the Apple operating system, are fueling the spread of TV Everywhere, says Tamara Gaffney, Principal Analyst with Adobe Digital Index in this video interview. "The iOS app has surpassed the browser as the most common access point for TV Everywhere," she says, sharing the details of a just-released study Adobe conducted that analyzes TV Everywhere usage. […]Gaffney presented her finding today in San Francisco where she was a speaker at the TV of Tomorrow show."

"Mobile devices, led by the Apple operating system, are fueling the spread of TV Everywhere, says Tamara Gaffney, Principal Analyst with Adobe Digital Index in this video interview. "The iOS app has surpassed the browser as the most common access point for TV Everywhere," she says, sharing the details of a just-released study Adobe conducted that analyzes TV Everywhere usage. […]Gaffney presented her finding today in San Francisco where she was a speaker at the TV of Tomorrow show."

"I glimpsed the future of pay-TV at the TV of Tomorrow (TVOT) show in San Francisco today. That future sees the cable channels taking charge of the experience of their content, while the operators continue to provide the consolidated view of it all. Matt Strauss, SVP and GM of Video Services at Comcast, demonstrated a new version of the company’s popular X1 TV service. He showed how the guide has really become 7 different guides in one."

"TV of Tomorrow Show SF 2014 is hosting a companion event, the TVOT Hackathon 2014, which brings together hackers, directors, and other creatives and experts from the worlds of television, online video, advertising, big data, visual and sound design, display technology, art, music and beyond, to envision and build the TV of Tomorrow."